Counting Stars
by Kiteria Faye
Summary: High school is difficult enough as it is when you just have to worry about passing, when you add in the fact you're a Miko with a bad temper and a don't mess with me attitude or the last of your kind in a school of others like you it's almost too much. Yet friendship and other relationships are what help carry you through, that's no different for these girls. *Rating may change*
1. Chapter 1

_**Kiteria:**_ Heyo guys, I know I have other stories I keep promising to finish, but any fellow writers out there know what its like when you get a new idea tat just wont go away. Well, this was one of those. This is a co-written story between me and a friend of mine TeeBeMe. She is an amazing writer and the style will be mainly hers since I think it flows better. Let us know what you guys think okay? Those who loved my stories BlueDevil High and BlueDevil Dropouts, you may like his because Saya, Sheera, and Star are back! Enjoy chapter one!

P.S- Xin is Tee's character, not mine!

* * *

"Is this skirt even legally long enough?"

A distinctly boyish snort ripped through the slightly tense atmosphere shared between me and my sister. She glanced over at me, a frown marring her pretty face. I could only grin back at her. "Legally long enough, Hina? Seriously? I don't think we're breaking any rules by showing our legs for once since we've starting our training."

Training as in miko training. Spiritually training? Miko training sounds kind of weird, stupid even. Priestess training? Wow, that sounds even worse. Bottom line, my sister and I are miko. The type that go around purifying impure souls, exterminating evil spirits and blessing Temples and such.

Our family is actually pretty famous. The women are all miko and the men are monks or priest, which is my opinion, is pretty similar. But don't say that to my Grandfather because you'll be verbally assaulted. Despite our fame, our family has been pretty reclusive. I never really understood why but the Hyuga family eventually moved to a large Temple secluded up in the mountains since before my sister and I were even born.

Which, in my opinion, is not healthy for children. I mean, c'mon, who did they expect us to talk to besides one another? The trees? The birds? But my family believed that being hidden away in the mountains was a better alternative for my sisters, cousin and I.

And then one day, my parents decided it would be completely and utterly in our best interest to suddenly rip us out of normal routine and send us to an Academy that would better cater to our abilities and teach us how to interact with other beings.

Beings such as demons and mythcials. Again, in my opinion, I really don't get the logic of it at all. Last time I checked, mikos were a dying breed anyway. Why raise us in seclusion all our lives and then suddenly send us to an Academy to better hone our skills with other supers when we're sixteen?

Pretty stupid, if you ask me. But no one asked me and that's why my Grandmother threw a wooden bucket at my head last night.

Anyway...

Next to me, Hinata huffed and tugged at her skirt. "It's just...I'm not used to this. How can you so be so calm while wearing this?" Hinata whined childishly. My sister was the prime example of a miko. Everything about her just screamed 'purity' and 'traditional' at you. Honestly, I'm more worried about her in this school than myself. It's like throwing a bunny rabbit into the wolves' den.

"Hina, you're going to end up flashing the school before we even get in there. Just leave it be, it's really not that short," I lightly slapped her hands away. Sometimes with my stronger personality, I wondered how Hinata turned out to be the older twin. "God, I hope you'll be okay..." I muttered more to myself than to her.

She tightened her lips, a look of determination crossing her usual serene face. "If Father and Mother think this it what's best for us then that's what is best for us," She said with no trace of doubt. I only looked at her, eyebrow quirked.

"It is so easy to mislead you."

Hinata and I were Sophomores. Which confused me, because what in the hell is a sophomore anyway? Who came up with the word and why that word? Sophomore sounded stupid and I felt even stupider knowing that was my classification.

Our schedule was pretty easy to remember. From 7:45 to 10:45 is when we focused on our miko training. Then from 10:45 to 3:00 is when we attended normal classes. Classes like math, science, History, Japanese literature and elective classes. Homeroom started at 7:30 and ended at 7:40.

"Hina, no, I'm telling you, Homeroom is down this way," I insisted with a frown. Hinata glanced at the copy of her schedule and then glanced down the way I was pointing. She turned into the direction she had been planning on going down with a tight frown.

"Xin, that's literally in the opposite direction. Look," She pointed to our room number. A21. My frown deepened and I looked back down the way I wanted to go. That would lead us down D hallway.

"Well, who in the blue Hell built this school and decided to divide it by numbers and letters? Who does that?"

Hinata gave me a sharp look before whacking me on the head with her bag. "You know we're not allowed to curse. Don't swear like that, it's bad for you," She scolded me, tugging me down the right hallway.

Snorting, I allowed her to drag me after her. "You know, I read somewhere that swearing is actually good for you. Like, it's a stress reliever. So, you know I can totally say 'fuck' cuz' it relieves stress-OW! Hinata! Don't pinch me like that."

"You know that if Father was here, he wouldn't allow that type of language."

"But he's not here, Hina. Live a little, c'mon, say Hell."

"I'm not saying that. Now let go of my arm."

"Not until you curse. Come on, one swear word. I won't tell. It'll be our secret."

My sister and I continued to squabble, not even taking notice of the Homeroom's door sliding open. When didn't stop until we heard someone clearing their throat. Freezing in the middle of pinching and pulling at one another, we slowly looked up into the bemused eyes of the Homeroom teacher, Iruka Umino-Sensei. We'd met him the day before along with several other teachers. So far, he seemed the nicest.

"Ah...Good morning, Umino-Sensei," Hinata smiled tightly and literally shoved me off by my head. I stumbled and shot her a dirty look for her abuse. No one ever believed me when I called her abusive.

"Morning," I waved to him. Hinata glanced at me, probably unimpressed with my casual behavior. Umino-Sensei eyed the both of us before a light smile crossed his face.

"Good morning, girls. Did you have trouble finding the classroom? You're ten minutes late," Umino-Sensei reminded us. I could just feel Hinata staring at the side of my head, quietly blaming me for our lateness. "Well, it can't be helped. Come inside."

Introducing myself to the class didn't make me nervous at all. You would think that with the pathetic people skills I have, I would be nervous. Like Hinata or something. I wasn't even looking at her but I could see out of the corner of my eye that she was blushing as the noise settled down and everyone stared at us.

"Uh...Hi!" I grinned widely and waved. I think Hinata might have choked on her spit.

"I'm Xin and this is my sister, Hinata. We've been home schooled this whole time so we're completely new at this. Oh! And we're miko in training, so there's that."

The classroom was oddly quiet, which kind of confused me. "Wait, Mikos still exist?" someone suddenly asked from the back. Before I could stop myself, I scoffed out loud.

What in the hell kind of question is that?

"Of course we still exist. You see us standing here, don't you?"

Hinata slapped her forehead.

My first class was math and Hinata wasn't in it. I found that strange because wouldn't they think it's better to keep us in the same classes? We're the only mikos in this entire school full of mythical beings and demons.

Plus, she's even more socially-retarded than I am.

But, this is something we have to get used to if we're eventually going to out into the world, I guess. We're not always going to be together, well, maybe we are. We're sort of freakishly attached to one another but what do you expect when you raise two girls up in the mountains? And then you want to suddenly throw them off the mountain into the horrors that is High School?

Yeah, we're totally going to be fine.

So, there I was, trying to find my way to my math class when I slammed face first into someone. Either I was walking a lot faster than I assumed or this kid was a stone demon because I'm eighty-nine percent sure my nose is broken.

"Ugh," I grumbled around my pain. I groped at my nose, wondering if it was really broken. Maybe it was sprained? Wait, can you sprain your nose? That sounds beyond stupid. So maybe it's just bruised?

"Aren't you going to apologize?"

I blinked like an owl and looked up into stone-gray eyes. Huh, maybe he really is a stone demon. Is there such thing? I think there is. Or, there should be. Next to the supposed stone demon, his twiggy friend stared wide eyed at me. He might have been a bird demon.

"Oh, dude, wait. I know this girl. She's the new miko. You know, the one with the twin? They have those freaky eyes." He grinned widely and I returned his grin with a harsh scowl.

"Um, excuse you? Freaky? That's rude."

Oddly enough, they look confused at my tone. The stone demon leans forward and slips his hand under my white tie, lifting it up to examine it. "Sure she's a miko? I thought they were nice and docile. And weak."

I can feel my hand glowing with dark thoughts brewing in my mind. I had every intention of showing this thick headed freak just how weak, nice and docile I could be when another voice rang out.

"Hey, the hell's wrong with you idiots? Why the fuck are you picking on the new girl? Leave her alone, morons."

This girl came completely out of nowhere. She was a little taller than me with jet-black hair mixed with red streaks. Her pretty green eyes were narrowed in annoyance as she literally shoved the living hell out of the stone demon.

The stone demon glared viciously at her but she did this weird thing and her eyes flashed red for a brief second. "Fuckin' siren..." He spat acid at her before turning on his heel and storming away with his bird-brained friend following after him.

She turned towards me after a long moment, eyebrow quirked. "You should really watch where you're going." She said after a long moment. I gaped at her, completely offended.

"It's not like someone's going to always save you."

"What the fuc—" I paused, trying to remember Hinata's strict no cursing rule. "Save me? I don't need someone to save me. Who in the blue Hell even asked you in the first place?" I hissed at her. Hell wasn't really a curse word. I think that word is safe to say.

The green eyed woman scowled (her tie was red, meaning she was a mythical) and cocked her head back with an attitude. "Really? Cuz' it looked like you were about to be shoved into a locker, Lord knows you can fit your little elf ass into them."

"Oi! I'm a fuckin' miko damn it, not an elf!" I hissed at her, no cursing rule be damned. I'm not sure who this girl thought she was dealing with but I'm not the one. Oh, because she sent two idiots away I was supposed to fall at her feet and be thankful? Uh, I don't think so. Not today.

"I don't care what you are, you're stupid."

"Listen here, you abomination, I didn't ask you in the first place and maybe when you decide to help someone out, you shouldn't be so rude to them. Even when they clearly don't need your help."

"You know, there's a reason why I hate mikos and you just seriously reminded me why."

"That honestly has nothing to with anything but just for that, I'll make sure to take my time when I'm purifying you."

We shared a heated glare before a warning bell sounded off. Realizing I was going to be late for my class thanks to this harpy, I broke the glaring contest first. "Whatever." I sneered at her before sharply turning to storm away.

Storm away into the wrong direction.

Hinata actually made friends. And it's not even like she made just one friend, oh no. My sister managed to find herself a clique. First there was this girl named Sakura who I mistook for a fairy or pixie based off of her pink hair. Big mistake.

She was an Ogress, for Kami's sake's.

Then there was this loud blonde girl with big blue eyes. Turns out she's a Banshee, which made a whole hell of a lot of sense because she was horribly loud and would not shut up for two seconds. Opposite of her was this calm but friendly brunette who was a Mogwai, or a Chinese Goblin. She seemed nice until I mentioned that one American movies that featured Mogwais. She gave me a dirty look for that.

There was others that Hinata told me about but they were no where to be found so I didn't bother to remember their names. "Did you make any friends, Xin?" Sakura asked politely when Hinata took a pause of describing this one wolf demon who seemed to just stare at her through the whole period.

"Uh, not exactly," I admitted, shrugging. "There was this one crazy chick who intervened between this argument. She was mean as hell. I think she was a mythical." I explained to them shortly, following their lead to our Science class. I really didn't want to be late again.

"A crazy and mean mythical? Sounds like Saya." Ino muttered blankly. It was the first time since meeting her that she actually said something quietly.

"That's not nice, Ino. Xin could be talking about anyone. You can't just assume it's Saya." Tenten chided the Banshee. "What did she look like, Xin? Maybe she was just having a bad day and took it on you." She suggested kindly.

I never knew goblins could be so kind. "Um, oh, she had pretty green eyes. Like emeralds or something and um...long black hair with red streaks. She was really pretty but that attitude of hers made me want to punch her in the face. Or break her damn kneecaps."

"Language."

"Damn isn't a swear word."

"You're using it as one."

A snort of laughter from Sakura stopped us. "That's Saya, alright. She's a good kid, really. Just...cranky. Her sisters are popular but she doesn't really get along well with...well...anybody."

I only huffed before finally making it to the Science classroom. It was a good mixture of both demons and mythcials but I noticed that they sat separated, completely divided. All the demons sat to the left of the room and the mythcials took up the right. And oh look, speak of the devil and he shall appear. Or, rather, she, in this situation. That cranky mythical, Saya, sat all the way in the back. Despite having someone sitting in front of her, she wasn't interacting with her classmates like everyone else.

I frowned in question but said nothing, noting some people were staring at us. It was mostly the demonic students. You know, demons and mikos never really got along. This was the first academy in the nation that mixed us together.

Hinata immediately settled down with Sakura, Tenten and Ino and left me standing by myself. Well, gee, thanks sis. Huffing, I searched for a vacant seat. I didn't even bother looking towards the demons. That was a problem I didn't need or want.

The only seat left, ironically, was next to Saya. Well, Hell. Why the hell not? Sitting next to her was probably better than sitting with a demon. Ah, maybe. She wouldn't immediately hate me for no good reason.

Oh, that's right. The evil little twit already hated me. I remembered her mentioning hating mikos, which, now that I thought about it, kind of surprised me. It's not like the mythcials were the best of friends with mikos but they've always gotten along in the past before the mikos dwindled down to just my family.

Brushing the thoughts aside, I approached the vacant desk. Oddly enough, I felt like everyone was suddenly staring at me. Ignoring the stares that I'm probably just imagining, I made it to the back of the class, settling my bag down slowly.

Saya finally tore her eyes away from the window to stare at me. Her green eyes light up in recognition and I think maybe scorn. I only stared back at her, daring her to tell me to sit with demons. My lips pursed and I quirked my eyebrow while she twisted her lips up in a frown.

"Hey," I greeted simply before sitting down.

Stick that in your juice box and suck it.

The rest of our first day went without a hitch. Although I did notice the majority of my classes was shared with Saya. Ironic, isn't it? She did her best to avoid speaking to me but I always ended up sitting next to her, in front of her, or in back of her.

Although I found it funny, she did not. In fact, I'm pretty sure she had this one vein in her forehead that was just ready to burst by the time last period rolled around. I was just bursting at the seams from giggling as she viciously glared at me.

I think my giggles added to her horrible attitude. Every time I let out a giggle or a snort, she'd openly glare at me. I think she was even about to throw her eraser at my head at one point.

Each time I saw her, she was always by herself. I mean, yeah, her personality sucked towards me but she had to have some friends, right? I thought one of the reasons for this academy was supposed to teach different supernaturals to get along, not hate each other.

Maybe Saya was just weird like that.

Then again it's not like the demons and mythcials really bothered to get along. I mean, they didn't glare at one another or anything like that but I don't think they really interacted unless they had to.

It's not like I had any room to talk. I hadn't made any friends at all. Well, there was Ino, Sakura and Tenten but technically Hinata made those friends. I had yet to find friends on my own. But I liked those three, they seemed nice enough. Even though Ino refused to shut the hell up for more than five seconds. But she was still nice. I guess.

"Oh," I suddenly paused just as Hinata and I made it outside. "I forgot my bag inside. Wait in the car, Hina. I'm gonna go get it," I told her before turning around. I heard her

remind me that the class was straight down the hall and to my right. Like I needed her to remind me. I totally knew where I was going.

Er...or not.

Honestly, how is it possible that I ended up lost that quickly?

"Well...damn," I grumbled under my breath. I twisted around in a full turn and noticed I wasn't alone in the previously empty hallway. "Oh! Hey, you. Redhead smoking the cigarette! Oh my God, are you seriously smoking in the middle of a school hallway? What type of shit is that? Have you lost your mind?"

Just as I was about to storm up to the redhead guy who was blatantly ignoring me, a hand wrapped around my wrist and jerked me backwards. "What the hell do you think you're doing now?" Exasperated green eyes met my gaze as I spun around to see Saya.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have the prettiest green eyes?" I asked before I could think of anything else. The disturbance was evident in her eyes as she cocked her head back and regarded me like I was stupid. "Oh, that was random," I snatched my hand away. "And I think I'm about to tell him to put that cigarette out. We're in school and it's not healthy."

Saya glanced over my head. Damn it, she even had an inch or two over me. "You can't just tell him to put it out," She said quickly with a scowl. "You don't even know him."

"You don't even know me but that isn't stopping you from trying to tell me what to do."

Saya scoffed angrily. "You know what, you little midget? Do what you want, see if I give a damn. One less miko in the world isn't going to bother me. In fact, I'm hoping for it," She spat at me through a harsh scowl.

Hand on my hip, I regarded her with an annoyed but questionable expression. "What crawled up your ass and died? The hell did I do to you? You're acting like I tried to kill you or something, you're a hateful person, you know that? It's not pretty."

The green eyed monster only huffed, arms folded across her chest. "You know exactly what _your kind_ did." She hissed at me. I only stared at her because, honestly, what the hell was she talking about? My kind? What the hell did we do to her?

Rolling my eyes, I glanced back to the smoking redhead only to see that he was long gone. "Damn it all to Hell, he's gone. Look what you did. Oh, you know what? Screw it. I don't have time. I'm supposed to be getting my damn bag."

I hurried back to the classroom that I passed twice trying to find it to collect my bag.

When I came back out, Saya was already gone. Well, good. What a cranky woman. That's probably why she didn't get along with anyone. How did you expect to have friends with an attitude like that? And what exactly did she have against mikos anyway?

Running out of the academy, my eyes searched for the waiting car Dad sent for us. Finding it easily, I approached it and climbed in only to come to face with Hinata's blank face. I rolled my lips together into a nervous smile. "Hi?"

"You're horrible at directions."

"Oh, shut up."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Kiteria:**_ Here's the second chapter, I hope those reading this enjoy it. I know its a bit of a slow starter, but it will get better just like all my stories, bu this one will be even better because Tee is helping and she is amazing! Leave us a review so we know you guys are reading! Enjoy!

P.S. Just so you guys know the lines are small time gaps (hours, days, etc...) We'll tell you when the P.o.v's change.

* * *

"Today was fun!"

Star yipped happily as she twirled through the front door of our two-story house. The lack of cars in the drive made it clear to me our parents weren't home yet, not that it mattered, they'd drill us about our first day during dinner. I watched as my insanely hypergetic younger sister bounced around the house, dropping her bag on the couch before hopping into the kitchen, then running off to do who knows what.

Sheera slowly walked into the kitchen, her white pigtails swaying as she confidently walked to the fridge, grabbed a water bottle, then turned to lean against the island in the kitchen. The look she sent me as I shut the front door made my frown deepen, she wanted to talk, ugh.

I trudged my way further into the house, before finally heading to the kitchen since I knew it was unavoidable anyways. Even if I tried locking myself in my room, the witch (quite literally) would simply unlock my door and just stroll in. Privacy was practically non-existent when my sister wanted something from me.

"Staaar!" I hollered at the pinkette who had disappeared into the house earlier and the odd sound of her footsteps told me the Pixie was skipping, literally skipping, back our way until she joined us in the kitchen, a ring pop on her finger from her stash of candy.

"What's up?" She asked with a cock of her head after taking the candy out of her mouth. I couldn't help but roll my eyes before taking a seat on one of the stools at the island and motioning to our older sister.

"Sheera wants us to share our feelings," I said with fake enthusiasm that earned me a quick smack to the back of the head by said older sister. Sending a glare her way as I held my head, I saw Star had taken up the stool one down from me. Should she really be eating that candy? Probably not.

Being forced to sit in the kitchen of our house talking about our day at an academy I didn't even agree to attend wasn't really my idea of a fun way to spend time. Star, of course, had no issue making friends. She said she'd met a girl named Sakura with the same color hair as her and that's why she liked her before she got to know her, then she listed off other names too quickly for me to catch of other people she had met and gotten numbers to text.

Her classes were ones she liked and the boys were all so nice to her, no wonder with the adorable way she looked. She seemed so innocent and naive that boys always flocked to ask her out, though she was never interested for whatever reason.

"Star…" Sheera interjected disapprovingly and I rolled my eyes, she never liked when guys showed interest in us-by us I mean her or Star. Guys never looked at me the way they looked at them.

"They were just being friendly because I'm new," Star argued, but we all knew their motives weren't as pure as Star thought they were. That girl would be eaten alive if left alone too long.

Sheera's day wasn't much different from Star's, made friends, classes were ones she liked, people-both guys and girls-were so nice to her, it all made me wanna gag. What was the point of uprooting us from the school we had been in, moving halfway across the map, and enrolling us in an academy that puts us all in a building with people who glare at us, hate our guts, and will never like us?

Father swore it was to help mend the bonds between our kinds, I say he was full of shit.

"What about your day, sis?" Star suddenly asked, pulling me from my thoughts and I sighed before answering. They knew how my day went. It went like all the other days.

"Same as it was any other day. Befriended no one, hate the classes, everyone stays away from me," I said, summing up my day in less than twenty words and could feel the look Sheera was giving me without even looking.

"You didn't speak with anyone, at all?" Sheera asked curiously, trying to get me to elaborate more on what my day was like and I mentally groaned. Then I remembered seeing that purple haired girl being harassed by a couple of demons and guessed that counted.

"I did talk to this one girl, rude ass moron and ungrateful to boot. She was being harassed, I helped her, she bitched me out, I left. Then we wound up sharing more than a couple classes together, she laughed at me almost all day and I was close to wringing her fuckin' neck before the day ended," I explained, remembering the rude little midget and didn't miss the looks my sisters were giving me.

One curious and probably hopeful I could make a friend as she ate her lollipop candy-ring, the other disapproving of my day and language. Not like I cared, she either put up with my vulgarity and temper or me fighting and she had already made me promise not to get into any trouble so she could suck it up.

Seeing no reason to sit around with my two personal therapists, I stood up and headed for the stairs to go to my room, stopping only when Sheera called my name.

"Saya, don't forget mom and dad want us to tell them about our day at dinner." She said and I turned to look at her, silently asking why the hell she was bothering to remind me of something I already knew. "Please try to seem like you enjoyed yourself. It's hard on all of us to suddenly move, don't add to their problems."

I grimaced at the way she said that, like I was their problem.

"Whatever," I said over my shoulder before running up the steps before my sister could stop me again to remind of what a bad daughter I was and how much of a trouble-maker I could be.

* * *

Staring up at my crimson-painted ceiling from my back I sighed, why did everyone have to think I was such a bad kid? My sisters, teachers, classmates...all of them and what was sad was they weren't exactly wrong.

My temper and foul-mouth often put me in a bad light with adults, the way I couldn't care less about popularity or what people thought of me made other people my age dislike me, my lack of interest in school made teachers hate me, and the fact I had a rather bad tendency to get into fights made it so my own parents didn't want to deal with me half the time.

Maybe I was a bad kid, but it was never without reason.

"Gah! Enough already Saya, what is this Days of Our Sad Sad Lives?" I snapped at myself before flipping off my bed and walking across my room to my desk. I cut my lamp on since the bulb in my room was a black-light. I sat down at my desk, pulled my sketchbook from my bag before flipping it open to an empty page. I let my mind wander into the recesses of my mind as my hand moved, sketching out lines, adding shading, depth, detail, and life to what I was drawing.

The one thing I will admit that I liked about the school we had been in before moving was the school's art teacher Sai. The man was never very expressive about _anything_ , but he had a way with art and he was the one who suggested I try my hand at a different outlet when he had seen me punching a tree behind the school after a confrontation with the bitch, Sandy.

That fucking Genie had no right to say what she did about Star, but Sheera had pulled me away before I could do anything and while she hadn't seen it because she was focused on dealing with me, I had seen the tears brimming in Star's eyes. Who would have thought I had a knack for art?

"Saya!"

I sighed as I was dragged back to the present by the sound of my oldest sister calling me down for dinner. Glancing up from my drawing, I blinked in surprise at how dark it had gotten, then looked at the clock the wall across from my bed to see it was already past nine.

Huh, guess I'm a time-traveler.

"SAYA!"

Sheera yelled up the stairs and I rolled my eyes at my sister's impatience before closing my sketchbook, cutting off my desk lamp, then heading downstairs before my sister decided to come up after me.

"Ever heard of the saying patience is a virtue?" I asked as I passed her on the stairs, she was halfway to my room and I smirked at how well I knew my sister.

"Saya…." Sheera said, her tone warning me not to push my luck and I just shrugged before heading into the kitchen to help Star with dinner. Our parents would be home around ten-thirty and let me just tell you, I was so looking forward to my second therapist session of the day. Not.

* * *

Dinner was to be as expected, our parents came home, thanked us for being such good children and making dinner, we sat down to eat, and then we were all suddenly explaining why we had recurring dreams of dying, why we thought everyone hated us, and where we saw ourselves in five years.

Therapy was fun, even more so when you went through it with your family.

"And how about your day, Saya?" Our father asked and I tried to ignore the way my heart hurt at how he had added my name on at the end, way to really make me feel like part of the family, Dad.

It wasn't bad enough people kept reminding me I wasn't really Mr. and Mrs. Tsukiyomi's daughter and I felt like a stranger as it was, but he had to treat me specially too.

"Same as always. Went by as slow as school does, I talked to one person today, then I came home," I said, hoping that if I kept it short they would just leave it, but of course our mom had to pick up on the one new part of what was usually always the same.

"Oh, who did you talk to, dear?" She asked and I felt like seeing how successfully one could drown themselves in gravy and mashed potatoes.

"A purple-haired midget with a bad attitude," I said under my breath and jumped when someone suddenly kicked me from under the table. I sent a glare towards my white-haired sister, knowing it had been her before turning with a smile towards our mom.

"Just a girl I have a few classes with, she was being harassed by some students and I stepped in."

"That's great, maybe you'll actually make a friend this time." Dad suggested and again my heart felt like someone had stabbed it.

"Yeah….maybe."

Talk after that was of what our parents did at work, plans for the weekend, and Star planning a shopping day with our mom her next day off. I stood up when I finished eating, took my plate to the sink and headed for the stairs.

"Going to bed already Saya?" Dad asked as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I stopped for a few seconds, nodded without looking at him before running up the stairs to my room.

I still couldn't look him in the eyes, how could I? He had taken me into his home, his family when he didn't even know me. I was just a random six year old with nowhere to go and no ties to him, yet he had welcomed me into his life. How was I supposed to repay him for that? Again I felt a pain in my chest as I lay on my bed and close my eyes. I doubt I ever could.

* * *

Xin's P.O.V

Our first priority when we arrived home on our first day was to bathe in our Sacred Hot Springs. Something about washing all the bad spiritual energy we might have picked up from the others. We had to bathe in the springs first thing in the morning and now as soon as we got home.

It was annoying but it was something we had to do. Sighing heavily, I dumped a large bucket of burning water over my head and spat the water out with a huff. Hinata was already climbing out and I was quick to follow.

We dressed in the ceremonial miko robes and slowly made our way into the Hyuga manor. We had to train for three hours until six o'clock. From there, we would do our homework and then we'd have dinner at seven o'clock.

"Time for dinner!" I heard our Mother call, causing my grip on my bow to falter. Next to me, Hinata blinked owlishly and looked around. In our training, we'd completely forgotten about our homework and worked right through until dinner time.

"Huh," I mumbled, placing my bow and quiver of arrows back. Hinata followed my lead with a weak smile. Now we'd have to wait until after dinner to work on our homework. Luckily there was only math and literature homework tonight.

Our Mother, Manami greeted us as we slipped our sandals off to step onto the veranda. In her youth, Manami had been a powerful miko but had greatly weakened due to having Hinata and I. Her body just wasn't strong enough to have children. Somehow she survived it and recovered but then a couple of years later, she had our younger sister, Hanabi.

Manami smiled at us before sending us off to get out of our sweaty robes. We came back, dressed in more casual yukatas to find our family waiting in the dining room. Hinata sweetly patted Hanabi on the shoulder as she settled to her left while I plucked the side of her head and settled to her right. She swatted at my hand until our Father, Hiashi, cleared his throat.

The banter stopped and we bowed our heads in order to say a prayer to the Gods and Goddesses about being thankful and promising to do our part as mikos to make the world a better place. I wasn't sure how we were supposed to accomplish this when it was barely any mikos left in the world but it wasn't like I was going to question anything.

We ate in silence for some time before Manami broke the silence. "How was your first day, girls?" She asked with a small smile. Ah, the million dollar question. How did the first day of the academy go? Did we like it? Did we make friends?

"Good," I mumbled around a mouthful of rice. Hanabi scowled at me and Hinata smacked the living hell out of me with Hiashi's approval. Hinata rolled her eyes at my horrible table manners. Swallowing the rice, I pouted. "Sorry."

"We had a good day, I think. I made three friends today. An Ogress, a Banshee and a Mogwai. They seemed like really nice girls but that's it for now. The teachers seem really nice and the classes are nice as well," Hinata stated pleasently. I pursed my lips and stabbed at my grilled fish.

"Answer your Mother, Xin."

I resisted the urge to violently pout and squeezed around my chopsticks. "I'm friends with the Ogress, Banshee and Mogwai. I kept getting lost today."

"So you were late to your classes."

Ah, of course that's the only thing that occurred to him. I only shrugged, not really interested in his annoyance. "I'm bad with directions," I stated simply. "But the teachers excused my tardiness because I'm still trying to get around."

"Your sister didn't seem to have a problem getting around."

I resisted the urge to sigh and instead shoved a piece of fish into my mouth. See, the funny thing about that was I'm not my sister. Yes, we were identical and everything but we still were two different people. Of course, I kept that thought to myself instead of pointing it out like I wanted.

"I met this one girl who was helpful. Well, kind of. She was actually pretty horrible, now that I think about it. But she did help me with these two demons who might have broken my nose. Or sprained it. I dunno. Is my nose bruised, Mama? It felt like it was earlier. Wait, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah! The girl. We have a lot of classes together."

My family wasn't even put off by my useless rambling. It's a bad habit I had. Mom softly pointed out that my nose was fine, I continued rambling for another two minutes before Hanabi spoke up. "Maybe you should leave that girl alone. She doesn't sound like she wants to be bothered with you. Besides, she's probably offended that you kept laughing every time you came near her."

"I wasn't laughing at her," I explained with a huff. "I was just laughing because she clearly hates me and yet we kept ending up stuck with each other. I thought it was funny and ironic," I paused long enough to eat more of the fish.

"Xin," Manami sighed heavily. "That's not exactly...normal. If you want to be her friend, why don't you try having a civil conversation with her instead of laughing?" She suggested carefully. They had the tendency to talk to me like that. Real carefully. I never knew why, they just did. Like I was stupid or something.

"I did have a civil conversation with her, Mama."

"I honestly doubt that, honey."

Squaring my shoulders. I suddenly had a new goal and it involved that foul-mouthed wretch of a girl.

I'm such a good person.


End file.
